Launch of GARV-II App To Ensure Power Access To All

GARV-II App will open the rural electrification work to public scrutiny. People will be able to participate in the development work and can give their input about rural electrification programme.

The launch of GARV-II App on December 20 will put to rest all controversies surrounding rural electrification programme in India. Union minister of state for power, Piyush Goyal, also minister of RE, mines and coal, has decided to provide all data on village electrification and that too on a real time basis on the click of a button.

GARV-II App will open the rural electrification work to public scrutiny. People will be able to participate in the development work and can give their input about rural electrification programme.

Says a senior power ministry official, “Rural Electrification and providing power to all is not just a slogan with this government. It is with this focus on electrification of all villages of India, the Ministry of Power has decided to launch GARV II App – a platform that will provide real time data of the entire six lakh villages of the country.”
As a result, GARV-II will ensure further transparency in implementation of rural electrification programme and will help all mobile users in urban and rural areas to monitor and track the progress of village electrification on a real time basis.

The GARV-II App will provide village-wise, habitation-wise base line data on household electrification for all states. Further, village-wise works sanctioned under DeenDayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) have also been mapped to monitor progress of works in each village.

In ‘GARV’ the data of only 18452 un-electrified villages has been mapped and 12-stage milestone based monitoring mechanism has been put in place. ‘GARV-II’ will map and provide data in respect of all villages (about 6 Lakh) with more than 15 lakh habitations, tracking progress on household electrification in each of the habitations of these villages.

Officials said the progress on various works will be updated by the implementing agencies of the states on day to day basis. A dashboard for Managing Directors and Superintending Engineers of DISCOMs has been provided for online monitoring.

Then the GARV-II App will have a citizen engagement window ‘SAMVAD’to enhance participation. They can contribute in the programme by providing their feedback and suggestions which shall be automatically forwarded to the concerned Managing Directors and Superintending Engineers of DISCOMs through SMS & Email on their dashboard.

GARV-II will ensure electricity access to all households as government has already electrified over 11,000 villages out of 18,452 un-electrified villages.

Independent Journalist and Energy Expert.​ (Worked with leading mainline financial and national daily for 23 years.​)​ Also, Guest Contributor with busines​sinsider.in Currently, Writing a Book for Penguin India Titled Greased Pole:How Politics and Lobbying Stifled India's Energy Dreams. The author can be reached on anupama.airy@gmail.com (9810661825)​